COLUMBIA, Mo— Missouri State Treasurer Eric Schmitt today announced his office’s Fall 2017 Unclaimed Property Auction earned $185,437 for account owners, a 23 percent increase over the last such auction. The auction was held in Columbia at the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center on November 29 and 30. Close to 2,000 items were up for auction including coins, jewelry, sports memorabilia and a variety of other items.

Auction items came from safe deposit boxes that have been turned over to the Missouri State Treasurer’s Office after five years of inactivity or no contact from the owner. All proceeds from the auction are held until claimed by the rightful owners.

“This auction will help us ensure we can continue to safeguard Missouri’s Unclaimed Property for its rightful owners, which is an extremely important function of our office,” Schmitt said. “I’m proud of the hard work our team put in to surpass the benchmark of $185,000 earned in a single auction.”

Safe deposit boxes represent less than one percent of the more than $900 million currently held in Unclaimed Property from 4.8 million owner accounts.

Unclaimed Property can be quickly searched for and claimed on ShowMeMoney.com. Once a claim is filed, its progress can be tracked online at any time. Individuals may also sign up to receive an email notification when new Unclaimed Property arrives and matches their information.

Since being sworn in, Treasurer Schmitt has returned more than $40 million in Unclaimed Property to around 167,000 owner accounts. The State Treasurer’s Office works to return Unclaimed Property through various means including advertising and direct outreach.